The Lawyer’s new Africa Elite 2015 report contains the most detailed research available on the local firms that are leading the way in Africa. In this year’s report, we will drill down to specific practice areas and identify the leading firms by highlighting 20 African firms and 10 international lawyers who are leading the market for African private equity...Read more

An exhaustive analysis of the UK market including every firm in the top 200 ranked, analysed and benchmarked, UK chambers ranked by turnover, revenue per barrister and which international firms are most active in the UK.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

Overview

In last year's ranking it was Gibson Dunn & Crutcher that put in a rock-solid City performance from a purely practice, rather than strategic, perspective to become the fastest-growing firm in the top 30.

The firm's UK revenue grew by 31.3 per cent, a rise powered primarily by the US firm's recent focus on, and success in, dispute resolution.

Tom Budd, who heads the firm's London office along with employment partner and co-managing partner James Cox, commented that the strengths of Gibson Dunn's dispute resolution group had been a 'significant contributor' to increased revenue.

“We've been building it steadily since the hire of Philip Rocher [from Clifford Chance] in 2005,” said finance specialist Budd during last year's UK 200 report. “It's now almost 50 per cent of the office by headcount, with five partners and a very sizeable team of associates and paralegals working in this practice area as well.”

Several standout instructions powered the Group's stellar year, including representing UBS and its subsidiaries in relation to Madoff (a case led by Rocher) and Investcorp on a Cayman Islands-related matter.

“On the non-contentious side, as everyone in the City knows, work in certain areas has been patchy,” added Budd. “M&A, private-equity, debt finance, equity capital markets have all been subdued. There've been almost no major listings on the London Stock Exchange for two years. But there has been private M&A.”

Briefings from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

On 23 October 2012, the United Arab Emirates enacted its Federal Competition Law (Federal Law No. (4) of 2012), which laid down new rules on anti-competitive agreements, merger control and abuse of dominance.

Analysis from The Lawyer

Recent unwanted attention on Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in light of the Djibouti falsified evidence case will do nothing for the firm’s hard-won reputation in the world of anti-corruption and combating fraud.